After a holiday weekend away from Cambridge, the toughest adjustment that we students face may not be from West Coast waves to East Coast ice or from snoozing to studying. Rather, the harshest reality check might have come as a punch to the stomach.

The end of break means the departure of the glorious tastes of Thanksgiving (and its leftovers) and a return to the basics: HUDS.

As students made their way back to Harvard with their luggage and the extra post-holiday pounds, they were welcomed back to campus with (drum roll, please)...baked ziti in sausage sauce.

Mom’s home-roasted turkey was replaced with Jerk 8-Cut Chicken.  Instead of sweet potatoes and stuffing, the dining halls offered Sticky Rice (remember, that’s really what they call it). Yum.

A few students embraced HUDS’s welcome-back effort.

“I really enjoyed it," Bethan G. N. Williams ’11 told us. "Sunday night is great because of the rustic bread.”

Others attempted—but left unsatisfied.

“I filled my tray with food, but realized none of it was really edible,” said Beñat A Idoyaga ’12. “Then I headed to Yenching.”

Dessert, at least, received better feedback. Sundae Sundays rarely disappoint.